Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando Review

Date: 7/20/2005

Ratchet and Clank are back just a year after their successful debut on the
PS2. In fact, a year has also passed in Ratchet and Clank’s world since they put
an end to the Blarg. In the intervening time Ratchet and Clank have been milking
their success for all its worth, but are rapidly becoming yesterday's news.
Relegated to the second-tier talk show circuit, Ratchet and Clank are facing a
return to obscurity when they are summoned by Ambercrombie Fizzwidget.
Fizzwidget is the absent-minded CEO and Chief Scientist of Mega Corp and he
needs our heroes help. It seems that the company's top secret proto-pet has been
stolen by a mysterious ninja-like criminal and that in the wrong hands the
innocent-looking little critter can cause quite a bit of damage. Ratchet jumps
at the opportunity, more to have something to do than anything else, so
Fizzwidget outfits Ratchet with some body armor and new weapons and sends him
off to save the day.

The worlds in Going Commando are as big as ever.

The basic gameplay elements in Going Commando remain true to the original
game. You've got your oversized wrench that can be used to smash enemies and
objects, and you can dispatch enemies with a wide variety of weapons. Destroying
objects and defeating enemies will reward you with bolts that can be spent to
buy more ammunition or new weapons at vendor kiosks on some of the planets.
Also, you can still revisit any of the worlds that you’ve been to before to look
for additional secrets, and in fact you may need to do so to reach previously
inaccessible areas. Once again the emphasis is on action, and while there are
platform standards such as moving platforms, gaps to jump, and objects to move,
you’ll spend a good portion of your time blasting various robotic and alien
enemies.

This gameplay style worked quite well for the first game, so it would have
been perfectly acceptable if the game’s developers left everything as is and
provided a new story and new locations in Going Commando. Luckily for us gamers,
that did not happen and new elements have been added to the gameplay that make
Going Commando even more fun to play than the original game. Some of these
changes are minor, but still welcome, such as the ability to toss your wrench
boomerang style to take out enemies from a short distance. Also, you can now aim
most weapons to get a better shot at your enemies and conserve your ammo. The
aiming feature works more like a simple target lock than a sniper scope, but it
turns out to be a pretty useful enhancement.

A more substantial change to the game comes in the form of the toughness of
Ratchet. Armor now allows him to absorb hits without taking damage and he can
now level-up with experience, increasing the amount of damage he can take before
dying. Killing enemies will reward Ratchet with overall experience, but he’ll
also gain experience with the weapon used to dispatch them. Once he accumulates
enough experience with a weapon, it becomes automatically upgraded to a more
powerful version. For example, go on a killing spree with your Lava Gun and
you’ll be rewarded with an even more deadly Meteor Gun.

Overall, Going Commando introduces 19 new weapons to the game, and some of
the weapons from the original game are back as well. Not all of the weapons are
meant for killing, though. Several weapons are an integral part of the game’s
puzzles, such as a tractor beam that allows you to move around objects and
robots and a gun that is used to enable machinery to move platforms or bridges.